A Police Escort for Sinterklaas...

Apparently there were protesters in some cities at parades that had switched away from blackface, because they were angry about the change from tradition. This was likely why Amsterdam’s parade started with a police van that looked menacing from the front...

...but more playful from the back.

Again, not sure if Amsterdam had introduced a police escort for Sinterklaas some time ago or if this was special for this year.

Luckily the police presence wasn’t overly intimidating since most of the officers were on bikes.

I was shocked to learn that The Hague Hash had a falling out over the title of an invite for an upcoming trail. A few Dutch hashers wanted the trail title to be Sinterklaas and Piet, while other Dutch hashers demanded it be Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet. It got a bit ugly and the webmaster ended up quitting and the hasher in charge of the Facebook group and collecting hash cash was fired. We welcomed both of them happily as regulars at Amsterdam Hash.

It is ironic that I am finally posting this six months after the fact while protests rage around the globe about systematic racism resulting in police brutality against black people. Already several other Dutch cities have declared the end of Zwarte Piet. It will be interesting to see what happens this November.